Never Say Neverland Ever Again
by Noel Deitrich
Summary: Peter Pan visits yet another family and takes them back to Neverland with him. But what happens when they realize their trip full of fun and games is all a cover up? Hali must play the hero if she want to save the things she treasures most.
1. Chapter 1 Hali Kern

I'm sure all of you have heard of those stories where children are left home alone and they have amazing adventures before their parents come home. Well, this is one of those stories. What happened to me and my brothers was unbelievable. And it's definitely a tale worth being told.

My name is Hali Kern, I'm twelve years old and my family lives in a huge flat in New York City. The bedrooms are so big that my parents decided all of us kids needed to share one. My side of the room has a decent sized bed, a worn out couch, a seven drawer dresser and half of the closet. My brothers get the other side of the room with the same type of furniture and a huge toy chest. The walls of our room are lined with shelves of books; most of them about one person:

Peter Pan.

My brothers and I are Peter's biggest fans. We've spent our whole lives reading stories about him and acting them out. Tilak, my seven year old, youngest brother, always insists on being Captain Hook. For some reason he likes playing the bad guy. Bryn, who happens to be eight years old, takes over Peter's role and then I'm stuck playing any of the other characters. I'm the oldest; shouldn't I be getting the first pick of parts?

One night, just after my brothers and I had finished our dinner, Mother came into our room, dressed in a long dress. It was silver and seemed to glisten underneath the soft light in the room. Her hair was long and wavy, reaching halfway down her back. Mother walked in, grabbed my brush and sat me down on the bed.

"Are you going to be okay tonight, honey?" Mother asked as she combed my long red hair, something she did every night.

"Everything's alright, Mother," I responded, careful not to let my annoyance come out in my voice. We were all expected to respect our parents and mother wouldn't be happy if she knew I was annoyed by her. "I can take care of myself."

My parents were going out to Father's boss's Christmas party. Our nanny couldn't watch them that night, so I was put in charge for the night.

"And what about the boys, Hali?"

I blushed. I had forgotten about my brothers. They were a handful, but I knew that I could still look after them. I was twelve years old after all. "Yeah, I can take care of them too." And as if on cue, Bryn and Tilak ran into the room.

"Give me back the football!" Bryn yelled, wrestling his little brother to the ground. Tilak growled in frustration and fought back. Mother looked at me expectantly and I sighed. Of course my brothers would mess things up. I had to be able to show mother that I was capable of taking care of the little devils.

"C'mon guys, lighten up," stupidly, I dove into their pile and fought against them both. After a lot of hair pulling, punches being thrown and screaming, I managed to pull them apart. The football was left on the floor, seemingly forgotten. I picked it up and threw it on my bed. "Neither of you gets this until you learn how to share."

"Mother left a while ago," Tilak piped up. A quick look over my shoulder proved him right. Our room was empty except for us.

"Fine, you can still have the football, but don't fight anymore. I don't feel like fixing all of your problems tonight." The boys smiled and thanked me, running over to their side of the room. I knew how to keep my brothers in line, but I wasn't strict with them. As long as they didn't do anything stupid, I was fine with leaving them to entertain themselves.

"Maria, are you ready yet?" came Father's voice from down the hall. Mother's real name is Maria and Father's is Andrew. He must have thought that Mother was still in our room because he started walking our way.

He came into our room, dressed in his favorite suit and tie: black pants and jacket and a bright gold tie. His shoes were so shined to perfection that I swore I could see my reflection in them. Father believed in making a good impression no matter how long you've known someone. He had been working for the same company for his whole life and he still acted like everyday was his first day at work.

Father also expected Bryn and Tilak to follow in his footsteps. It didn't matter that they were both under the age of nine; he taught them how to run a business and how to get along with customers. My brothers were way more interested in Peter Pan than any business my father was running, however.

And that's why they automatically hid beneath their beds once they heard Father coming down the hall. I glared at them and received shrugs in return.

"Hali, have you seen your mother?" Father asked me. I shook my head. Mother had left when I had dove into Bryn and Tilak's fight. I hadn't even heard her leave.

"No, sir," I responded. "Mother was brushing my hair a few minutes ago. And then Bryn and Tilak came in and I had to help them get their pajamas on. By the time I was finished with that, Mother had left the room. I didn't even see her leave, sir. Maybe she's in the kitchen?"

Father nodded. "I will check there next. Oh, and tell Bryn that I need to talk to him about helping out his old man with the business tomorrow morning. Have a fun night honey." He kissed my forehead (something that I'm not used to; Father's not an emotional man) and left. A few minutes later I heard the front door shut and my brother's emerged from their hiding spots.

"So, can we go play outside?" Bryn asked.

"No," I responded firmly. "You must stay in this house and entertain yourself. I don't want to have to worry about you too getting lost out there."


	2. Chapter 2 Fiction Come to Life

The cool air woke me up. Shivering, I pulled the blankets up under my chin, thinking Mother had simply forgotten to turn on the heat before she left.

But then I saw the open window.

Weird. I definitely remember Mother shutting the window before she left.

I got up and shut the window, deciding that Tilak had gotten too hot during the night. Yawning, I wandered back to my bed, not noticing the boy trying to blend in with the walls.

Back underneath the covers, I tried to fall asleep, but I kept hearing noises. My heart beat faster after each noise I heard. Heart pounding in my ears, I opened my eyes and saw nothing. Whenever I closed my eyes again, however, the noises would start up again.

Feet pounding on the walls; the closet doors sliding open and closed; toys being thrown across the room; whispers. I opened one eye and watched the toys fly through the air. If I didn't believe it before that, I knew. Someone had climbed in through the window. I scanned the rest of the room and that's when I saw the figure.

I yelped and sat up, turning on the light. The figure (who I could now see was a boy) jumped into the toy chest, the top closing on top of him. I could've gone right over there and opened it, but I was too scared. Who knew what would happen if I let the boy out again.

My yell must've woken up Tilak because he was sitting up in his bed.

"What's going on Hali?" he asked, eyes wide. I held a finger to my lips, willing him to be quiet. Now that I thought about the whole situation, the boy had looked more scared of me than I was of him. But why was that?

I snuck out of bed and over to the boy's side of the room. I crawled into Tilak's bed and wrapped my arms around him. The poor boy was shaking in fear! I tried to calm him down, but nothing seemed to be working.

"Bryn," I hissed at my other brother. All of us mine as well be awake if there was a criminal in our house. "Bryn, wake up!" But he simply sighed and rolled over. I shook my head. It looked like I would have to do this by myself.

"Okay, here's what we are going to do," I told Tilak. "We're going to lock your chest and push it out into the hallway. Got it?" Tilak nodded and grabbed the lock off of his nightstand. Barely making any noise, I walked to the toy chest and clicked the lock. I signaled for Tilak to come over and we began pushing the chest out of the room.

The second we started moving, the boy started kicking. It took us longer than it should have to get the chest out. It's hard to push in one direction if the person inside of it wants to go a different way.

Once we got it to the doorway, Tilak gave it one last shove and the chest slid to a stop under the lone light in the hallway. I clicked it on, filling the hallway with a bright yellow light. The boy stopped kicking and all became quiet again.

"Should we open it?" Tilak asked. I shrugged and grabbed the key from him.

This is the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life. What if this guy is some mass murderer? What if he jumps out of here and stabs me in the chest? Well, here goes. God, I'm sorry for all of the sins I have committed during my time on earth. Please help me!

As soon as the lock clicked open, the lid of the chest burst open and the boy shot out. And when I mean shot out, I mean he launched himself out of that thing and somehow plastered himself to the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I gaped at him. "What are we doing? We're trying to protect ourselves from a little boy who came into our house through a fourth story window. The real question is what are you doing?"

He looked us over and dropped down from the ceiling. No, I'm sorry; he floated down from the ceiling. Wasn't sure how he did it, but it happened. Any normal person would've plopped down onto the floor like a rock sinking to the ocean floor. This boy was like a feather finding its way back to the ground.

"You are Hali Kern, right?" he asked. I gaped at him (again). How did he know my name? But he simply nodded and turned to my brother. "And you must be little Tilak, yes?" My little brother nodded and jumped up and down in excitement.

"And Bryn's asleep over there," he said, pointing. "I'll go get him for you!" I watched in disbelief as Tilak bounded back into the room to wake up Bryn and introduce him to a complete stranger. The boy watched him go and then turned his gaze back to me.

"Figured out who I am yet?" he asked. I shook my head.

"You sneak into my house in the middle of the night, hide in my brother's toy chest and scare me to death," I started. "And you expect me to just be okay with this?"

The boy laughed. "Well, I am Peter Pan, so yeah." I gaped at him. He must've thought that my face always looked like that. He laughed again and told me he'd prove it. And as I watched, he floated off of the floor and flew in a couple of circles.

"Whoa, cool!" Came Tilak's voice. I barely recognized the fact that both my brothers were there; I was too busy watching Peter in awe. I couldn't believe that Peter Pan was really in my house. Once I convinced myself that it was really him, something else crossed my mind.

We could be going to Neverland.


End file.
